To Noel's Mom,
 
Sorry to hear about Noel's recent episode.  I had a similar incident with
one of my ferrets not too long ago.  He was a known insulinomic, but when
I found him one afternoon with his neck bent to one side and falling over
it freaked me out too.  (I have had many insulinomic ferrets over the
years, but this is the first time I had one react this way!).  I was
thinking stroke, but I got Karo syrup down him and fed him his pred and
baby food when he was able to eat and he eventually came out of it.  So,
it is very possible your Noel is indeed insulinomic.
 
(Unfortunatley my ferret's insulinoma spread very fast, we had to up his
pred and then proglycem to maximum dose fairly quickly, as a last ditch
effort he had surgery, and the vet said he had the worst pancreas she had
ever seen, just full of massive tumors, he didn't make it out of surgery.
I bring this up, not to scare you, but to let you know that insulinoma can
spread very quickly before you are even aware of it.  I hope this is not
the case with Noel, be sure and feed him a high protein meal (such as baby
food) with his pred.  Most of these guys can live a few years with
surgery/and/or medicine and good food.)
 
Good luck with Noel!
Julie
[Posted in FML issue 3685]